Giants co-owner John Mara witnessed it every day in real time this season. If coach Tom Coughlin is slowing down at age 67, Mara didn’t see it, and he attended nearly every practice and went to every game.

Thus, Mara believes the Giants’ disappointing 7-9 finish this season isn’t the fault of Coughlin and there’s no need to dismantle the entire coaching staff and start all over.

Mara, in an interview yesterday on WFAN, admitted that the Giants have a lot of work to do this offseason, but he said he can envision the team making a quick turnaround as the Chiefs and Panthers did this season.

"There will come a time when we’ll have to look at (his age), but I don’t think the age is so much a factor, as I think we’ll both know when it’s time’’ for Coughlin to step down, Mara said. "He still has the energy of a much, much younger man. He still has the desire and motivation to win. He wants to win as badly as anybody.

"He still works just as hard. I think the players still listen to him. I go to practice. I watch how he teaches. I watch whether the players are playing attention. That’s something I’ve observed with my own eyes. He didn’t, all of a sudden, forget how to coach. The guy is still as good a coach as there is out there. Let’s see if we can help him by getting him some better personnel."

Mara said he doesn’t think his team is that far away from contending for another Super Bowl, despite this season’s collapse.

"I just don’t think that merits cleaning house and blowing the whole thing up and bringing in a whole new staff. I just think in the long run that hurts you.

"I don’t think this is the time. I just think people have to be patient and accept the fact we had a lot of injuries this year. And yes, we have missed on some draft picks and some of our free agents haven’t worked out in the past year or two, but I just have a lot of confidence in our staff and coaches and I think we’ll get it turned around."

When asked about free agents Justin Tuck and Hakeem Nicks, Mara, as always, was candid.

"We’d love to have Justin back," he said. "It has to be at the right number."

As for Nicks, who had a disappointing season, Mara said, "He was a great player for us his first three years. It wasn’t his best year. I do think he’s still a quality NFL receiver."

Mara added that he thinks Nicks can get his career back on track with the Giants or "somebody else" next season.

• The Giants have four candidates on their short list to succeed retired Kevin Gilbride as offensive coordinator — Mike Sullivan, Dowell Loggains, Ben McAdoo and the newly added Karl Dorrell, the Texans’ former quarterback coach.

Mara said there may be more and he doesn’t anticipate the team making a decision in the near future.

That the Giants are expanding their search to candidates without ties to Coughlin suggests they might totally revamp their offense.

Asked if Gilbride was forced out, Mara said, "Fortunately it didn’t come to any type of situation where he had to be forced out."

Commenting on the uproar to fire Gilbride, Mara said, "People have short memories. They forget he called two Super Bowls for us."

The Giants will honor the final year of Gilbride’s contract although they aren’t obligated to do so.

• Special teams coordinator Tom Quinn will be back next season, multiple sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking told NJ.com and The Star-Ledger. So will defensive coordinator Perry Fewell after the Washington Redskins decided yesterday to name Jay Gruden as their new head coach.

Fewell, who interviewed for the Redskins job, and Quinn are each believed to have one year remaining on their current contracts.

Quinn was under fire this season after the Giants’ special teams finished 28th in Football Outsiders’ special teams rankings, allowing three punt returns for touchdowns and struggling in the return game.

Staff writer Conor Orr and Jordan Raanan of NJ.com contributed to this report.